It’s strange how your feelings change very quickly when you sit down and assess things properly. My immediate reaction after the game was one of anger that we had thrown away another good position and that defensive frailties had cost City again. Funny how today I’m much more positive about the game and yes we lost, but we actually went to Chelsea and played them off the park, particularly second half.
We had lots of possession and worked the ball around well and on another day we could have lost by more and on another day we could have won. Lots of positives for me from the game, Pellegrini and his tactics and formations, Garcia played in his preferred position, Fernandinho looks much more comfortable and gets better and better. Aguero and Silva are just class acts and continue to play better and better.
The two main talking points for me in the game are the form of Gael Cliche and “that” goal.
The form of Gael Cliche is a surprise to me as he has been mr consistent and put in some great displays in all the games but I guess he is allowed a slight drop in form like all other players but we notice it more as he has very high standards to love up to. The way he was left behind by Torres is a real surprise as he normally is rock solid close to the dead ball line, but as I’ve said he’s allowed a blip, everyone’s human after all. The formation we play means he has to get forward, this is not a real change from the previous tactics but he is a bit more one and one exposed than he was previously but he will get back on form, he’s to good a player not to.
As a central defender, when I was a lad, they taught me to not let the ball bounce when played long and always take control if there is any doubt. Both Joe Hart and Mateja Nastasic are to blame for the goal, Nastasic should have taken charge and dealt with the ball earlier by heading it away from the goal and lumping it into the stand, but he gave Torres a sniff, which was his mistake. Compound this with Joe Hart coming flying out of the goals when he should have stayed at home, didn’t really give Nastisic any time to react and the rest is history. We seem to be leaking soft goals at the minute but again I think this is just the way it is, and can be sorted by some training ground work. We should be calm and trust the players and manager.
For me a trip to Chelsea always ended with us being completely outplayed but this one didn’t, we lost to a mistake and could easily, on a mother day won what was an absorbing game.
Maxflicity's Blog 